It’s a wonder that a film that was made over a decade ago, gets released, though, The Fakir Of Venice could well have gone straight to a streaming platform. In the interim, Farhan Akhtar has zoomed up the Bollywood pyramid, Annu Kapoor has, sort of, missed the movie bus, and director Anand Surapur remained dormant. The film could have been a satire on...

Om Katare’s group Yatri is in the midst of a theatre festival celebrating the group’s fortieth anniversary, which is no mean achievement. Among the roster of comedies and social dramas like Hadh Kar Di Aapne, Chinta Chhod Chintamani and Ravanleela that mark the group’s crowd-pleasing repertoire is the serious Kaalchakra which is, amazingly, Yatri’s most-watched and longest running play. There are people who have seen it...

A mainstream film, with popular stars venturing into the LGBTQ space is cause for a hurrah, even if it is potholed with problems. Even if first time director Shelley Chopra Dhar wants to be politically correct and couch the message of acceptance of alternative sexuality in froth, there are a few areas on contention. Sweety (Sonam Kapoor) is the Moga-based...

The Peppermill is a must-visit in Bandra. It offers a large bar, good food including bar snacks, soups, pizza, sandwiches and music. Went because I was nearby and accompanied by a very hungry friend. We were pleasantly surprised. We ordered from a fairly expansive (but photocopied) menu: Pepperoni Thin Crust Pizza (yum yum!) served on a lovely wooden platter and cut into...

This one is dedicated to Bollywood beauties that love to dress in western as well as Indian high fashion labels and strike a pose for the paparazzi for whom it seems they are dressing up everyday. But ladies, the dress may be high fashion but does your pose match the couture creation’s beauty? “Strike a pose,” said Madonna in...

The energy at the Royal Opera House was infectious. Many in the audience were stunned by instruments like the wooden clapper khartal, the bowed kamaicha and the double flute algoza. In their bright ghaghras, two ghoomar dancers added to the magic. For over 90 minutes, singer Kutle Khan and his troupe enthralled with their performance of Rajasthani folk music. Presented...

Every year, television channels and radio stations play patriotic songs on Independence Day and Republic Day. These songs are sung in schools, offices and colony functions. Normally, people tend to sing older songs like ‘Mere Desh Ki Dharti’ and ‘Kar Chale Hum Fida’. The newer songs get lesser airplay. Hence, in this list, we have chosen a mix of classics...

Forgiveness is seen as a passive quality at a time when revenge is glorified.  But it requires courage too, says Rubaru Roshni, a feature-length documentary, directed by Svati Chakravarty Bhatkal and produced by Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao, for telecast on Republic Day. It tells three stories of perpetrators of a killing and how that one thoughtless act impacted their own...

The ‘Khoob ladi mardani’ aspect of the Rani of Jhansi is part of Indian consciousness, since she is just about the only female leader of her time who has made it to the history books. If a film is to be made about her in so many years after her death, it should either be faithful to history, or there...

There is a scene in Abhijit Phanse’s Thackeray, in which the leader is a pall-bearer of one of his followers killed in a violent agitation. This simple act of solidarity with the rank and file explains a lot about what turned a cartoonist and journalist into one of the most controversial leaders of Maharashtra. The slim, bespectacled Bal Thackeray (played almost...

Visited the huge, spanking new Foodhall at Linking Road, Santacruz. And obviously, after being wowed by the high quality, international foods stocked at the Foodhall, we had to eat at the café. The cafe looks completely international and has a fairly extensive menu for a quick meal or a snack. Located in the basement, it has its own entrance so...

There was a time a few decades ago when shopping for swimwear was an expensive exercise – one had to go abroad for a good brand and fit. All that has now changed and how? One of the popular swimwear brands belongs to a petit, dynamic, designer, Nidhi Munim who has created quite a stir by turning women into Aqua...

Namamee was an evening of music and dance featuring Niladri Kumar on the sitar and Zitar (his homegrown musical creation) and an Odissi dance recital by Shubhada Varadkar and her senior students. The Odissi performance, using audio- visuals and dance, traced Swami Vivekananda’s Journey to Divinity. As a Karmayogi, preaching those values in the country, Swamiji believed in ‘Salvation...

THE stage at St Andrew’s Auditorium, Bandra, was crammed with snare drums, timbales, bongos, congadrums, tom-toms, shakers, djembes, a solitary tabla and a thousand cymbals. In the audience, a youngster quipped, “Where’s the place for the musicians?” Now in its fourth year, Mumbai Drum Day attracted a packed hall on Friday, January 18. For three hours without an interval, the...

दीपा गहलोत ‘व्हॉई चीट इंडिया’ में भारत की शिक्षा प्रणाली की जो समस्या दिखाने की कोशिश की है , दरअसल ये व्यवस्था उससे कहीं ज्यादा गहरे दलदल में है। शिक्षा प्रणाली की इस सड़ांध को फिल्म के अंत में आंकड़ों के जरिए दिखाने की कोशिश की गई है लेकिन फिल्म की कहानी ही लापरवाह और स्वार्थी है जिसमें यही दिखाने...

दीपा गहलोत पहली बार निर्देशक में कदम रख रहीं पिया सुकन्या का बॉम्बैरिया जैसी दुस्साहसी फिल्म बनाने की कोशिश करना ही तारीफ के काबिल है क्योंकि कहानी में इतने किरदार हैं और उन सबमें इतना कुछ चल रहा है कि उसे एक कसी हुई फिल्म के तौर पर पर्दे पर उतारना बड़े बड़े निर्देशकों के लिए भी लगभग असंभव है। कुछ...

दीपा गहलोत अभी दर्शक थियेटर में आ ही रहे थे कि कास्ट्यूम पहने कुछ अभिनेता एक कुत्ते को खोज करते दिखते हैं  जिसे नाटक में होना था लेकिन भाग गया, भक्ति गानों की एक सीडी भी गायब थी और नाटक के ही दो अभिनेता आखिरी समय में भी सेट को सुधारते ही दिखते हैं क्योंकि सेट पर कुछ ना कुछ...

Delhi-based theatre producer, director and writer, Atul Satya Koushik has been bringing his productions to Mumbai regularly. His plays, belonging to diverse genres from mythologicals to comedies and family dramas.  His latest, Ballygunge 1990- Love is an endless mystery, is a taut 85-minute thriller that runs without a break or blackout. The title places the story in a particular place and...

For a first-time director – Pia Sukanya-- to even attempt a film like Bombairiya is as admirable as it is foolhardy, because a plot in which multiple characters run riot for too small a payoff, is next to impossible to pull off even for experienced filmmakers. If, after some minutes of random chaos, the audience starts going Huh? What? instead of getting...

The problem with India’s education system is far deeper than what Why Cheat India can even attempt to get at. The extent of the rot is conveyed through a list of statistics at the end of the film, but the plot itself is merrily cynical, with the attitude that everybody is corrupt if the price is right. Our culture seems to...